I recently finished reading Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning. I was kindly given this book by a friend in the USA a few years ago and it has been sitting on a shelf since then. I found it a timely read. I particularly warmed to the thoughts contained in Chapter 11, The Geography of Nowhere (read “Nowhere” to mean now/here.)
Manning writes; “To be fully present to whoever or whatever is immediately before us is to pitch a tent in the wilderness of Nowhere. It is an act of radical trust – trust that God can be encountered at no other time and in no other place than the present moment. Being fully present in the now is perhaps the premier skill of the spiritual life.”
He goes on to say; “Real living is not about words, concepts and abstractions but about experience of who or what is immediately before us.”
Manning contends that being preoccupied with the past and future at the expense of the present (being “immersed in the ordinary”) means that we’re not living at all.
I’m doing what I can to be a little more intentionally present in the moments of daily life; asking God to help me hone my skills in becoming a more active listener to what is happening in and around me, especially in those more mundane, ordinary and routine experiences.
Lord, please help me to pay attention to what is happening around me and to respond appropriately…today.
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